THE ATTENTION ISSUE #2
Front Cover
Cover Type: Softcover (Perfect Bound) Book Size: Magazine 8.5x11 Page Count: 28 Paper Type: Magazine (60# Text)
1
THE MAP: Use this to find your way around.
MEMORY
4-25
THE PROCESS BY WHICH SENSORY INFORMATION IS ENCODED, STORED, + RETRIEVED.
ATTENTION 26-47 THE PROCESS OF CONCENTRATING ON ONE ASPECT OF THE ENVIRONMENT WHILE IGNORING OTHERS.
PERCEPTION 48-69 THE PROCESS OF UNDERSTANDING THE ENVIRONMENT THROUGH ORGANIZING/INTERPRETING SENSORY INFORMATION.
3
FEATURE: MENTAL ATHLETES
How I trained my brain and became a world class athlete.
THE 2 EXTREMES OF HUMAN MEMORY
DON’T FORGET (TO REMEMBER)
LONDON CABBIES + GROWING BRAINS
CAN YOU MAKE YOURSELF SMARTER?
She might have the best
New studies show that vast
This bizarre survey shows the
The new game that’s revived
memory in the world. He could
memory capacities lie latent
changing brain structure in
the notion that people can
very well have the worst.
in many of us.
London cab drivers.
work their way to a higher I.Q.
FEATURE: THE SCIENCE OF WINNING How the MIT Blackjack team hijacked Las Vegas.
LEVEL UP!
BEAUTIFUL BRAINS
SMARTER NOT HARDER
LECTURES SUCK.
Good news for gamers! Turns
Moody. Impulsive. Maddening.
Good students don’t just study
We’ve all said it. It turns out
out playing video games is
Why do teenagers act the way
hard, they study smart. This
that we might have been right.
actually better for you than
they do? These traits may be
study identifies habits of
Even good lecturers could
you’d think.
their key to success as adults.
successful college students.
teach more by lecturing less.
FEATURE: SUPERWOMEN
Women who can see more color than you and me.
THE BRAIN DOES THAT?
THINK AGAIN.
LIVING THE GAME.
YOU MUST BE JOKING.
Taking a placebo doesn’t just
In a trivial sense, everything
Fans in love, players at work.
Some people are so unskilled
make you feel better. Some-
rewires your brain; in a more
Here’s why players play the
they don’t realize it. Which
thing actually happens in the
meaningful sense, almost
game but the fans are the
means if you think you’re
brain! Should we be excited?
nothing does.
ones who really live it.
funny, you’re probably not.
7
THE 2 EXTREMES OF HUMAN MEMORY She might have the best memory. He could very well have the worst.
21
LONDON CABBIES + GROWING BRAINS This bizarre survey shows the changing brain structure in London cab drivers.
FRAGMENTS _ _ FEATURE: MENTAL ATHLETES
OF THE MIND
How I trained my brain and became a world class athlete.
For this exercise, you’LL UTILIZE YOUR ABILITY TO REMEMBER + RECALL FACTS/TO SOLVE THE RIDDLES AND OBTAIN THE PASSCODE. EACH “RIDDLE” DESCRIBES A VISUAL ELEMENT that can be found somewhere throughout these pages. If you THINK YOU KNOW THE ANSWER, SEE IF YOU CAN FIND IT it in the magazine!
17
WAR IS DAMAGING: A rampage in Afghanistan calls attention to a potentially lethal combo of PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
25
CAN YOU MAKE YOURSELF SMARTER? The new game that’s revived the notion that people can work their way to a higher I.Q.
ONCE YOU’VE DECIPHERED ALL 5 RIDDLES + OBTAINED THE CODE, YOU may ENTER YOUR guess ONLINE AT GRAYMATTERS.COM TO SEE IF YOU’RE ELIGIBLE TO WIN!
Two hearts that don’t belong
PG ___
One three and a four
PG ___
A blur of color + light
PG ___
A compass pointing in many directions
PG ___
The gift of words
PG ___
5
7
It was the best and the worst of memory... There is a 32-year-old
remembers that on March
woman, employed as an
28, 1992, she had lunch with
administrative assistant from
her father at the Beverly Hills
California. She’s known in the
Hotel. She remembers world
medical literature only as “AJ”
events and trips to the grocery
who remembers almost every
store, the weather and her
day of her life since age 11.
emotions. Virtually every day
There is an 21-year-old man,
is there. But she’s not very
a young lab technician called
much easily stumped. She
“EP,” who remembers only his
sees everything in almost
most recent thought. She might
complete detail. She
have the best memory in the
remembers world events
world. He has the worst.
and trips to the grocery
“My memory flows
store, the weather and her
like a movie—nonstop and
emotions. Virtually every
uncontrollable,” says AJ. She
day is there. But she’s
remembers that at 12:34 p.m.
not very much easily
on Sunday, August 3, 1986, a
stumped. Everything
young man she had a crush on
she sees is essentially in
called her on the telephone.
complete detail.
She remembers exactly what
There have been a small
happened on Murphy Brown
handful of people over the
on December 12, 1988. And she
years that are known for their
This is the unlikely story of how I ended up in the finals of the U.S.A. Memory Championship... Stock-still + sweating
names of a dozen strangers in
profusely, it all began on the
just a few minutes, thousands
19th floor of a building near
of random digits in under an
Union Square in Manhattan. I
hour. To impress those with a
was there to write an article
more human time, I asked Ed
about what I imagined would
Cooke, the competitor from
be the Super Bowl of savants.
England — he was 24 at the
The scene I actually
time and attending the U.S.
stumbled upon, however, was
event to train that summer’s
something less than a clash of
World Memory Championships
titans: a bunch of guys (and a
— when he first realized he
few women), varying widely
was a savant. “Oh, I’m not a
in age + personal grooming
savant,” he said.
habits, poring over pages of random numbers and long
“Photographic memory?” He chuckled again.
lists of words. They referred
“Photographic memory is a
to themselves as mental
detestable myth. Doesn’t exist.
athletes, or M.A.’s for short.
In fact, my memory is quite
The best among them could
average. All of us here have
memorize the first and last
average memories.”
11
29
LEVEL UP! Good news gamers! Turns out playing video games are good for multi-tasking.
43
SMARTER, NOT HARDER. Good students don’t just study hard, they study smart. This study identifies the habits of successful college students.
27
1. In which hand is the Statue
5. Which way does a “no
of Liberty’s torch?
smoking” sign’s slash run?
A. Left
A. Towards bottom right
B. Right
B. Towards bottom left
2. What 2 letters don’t appear
6. On Which side of a women’s
on the telephone dial?
blouse are the buttons on?
A. Q, U
A. Left
B. Q, Z
B. Right
C. X, Z 39
D. Y, Z
WAR IS DAMAGING: A rampage in Afghanistan calls attention to a potentially lethal combo of PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
3. On the American flag - is
7. How many hot dog buns are
the top stripe red or white?
in a standard package?
A. Red
A. 6
B. White
B. 8 C. 10 D. 12
47
LECTURES SUCK. We’ve all said it. It turns out that we might have been right. Even good lecturers could teach more by lecturing less.
4. What is the lowest number
8. On which side of a venetian
on the FM dial?
blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between slats?
A. 86 B. 87
A. Left
C. 88
B. Right
D. 89
Videogamers show EXTRAORDINARY multi-tasking abilities + PERFORM well at focus centered tasks.
29
LEVEL UP+++
BY PEACH G.
Why opting not to shower for a week to play Call of Duty might actually be better for your brain. Hey parents, the next
And guess what? These skills
time you fret that your child is
are not just gaming skills, but
wasting too much time playing
real-world skills. They perform
video games, consider new
better than non-gamers on
research suggesting that
certain tests of attention,
gaming may have real world
speed, accuracy, vision and
benefits for his/her brain.
multitasking, says Bavelier.
Ms. Daphne Bavelier is a
Vision, for example,
professor of brain + cognitive
improved in gamers. More
sciences at the University of
specifically, the kind of vision
Rochester. She studies young
called “contrast sensitivity,”
people playing action video
that is, the ability to see subtle
games. Having now finished
shades of gray.
conducting more than twenty
A recent test subject in
studies on the topic, Bavelier
cognitive scientist Daphne
says, “It turns out that action
Bavelier’s study tries to follow
video games are actually far
the direction of moving dots
from mindless.”
on a computer screen.
Her studies show that
“And this is a skill that
video gamers show improved
comes in very handy if you’re
skills in vision, attention and
driving in fog,” Bavelier says.
certain aspects of cognition.
Seeing the car ahead of you is
determined by your con-
Gamers, Bavelier has
University of Rochester.
After 10 hours of training,
trast sensitivity.” These skilled
also found, have much better
“Those games typically don’t
Pratt brought the women back
gamers also are able to see
attention than non-gamers
have the same effect [on the
to the lab and gave them the
smaller type size than most
— they stay focused. She
brain],” she says.
spatial cognition test again
non-gamers on vision tests.
issued video-gamers tests
But Bavelier wanted to
to measure attention. She
said some studies have found
improved substantially, and
know which came first: Is
found that gamers get much
that exercise itself can have a
almost caught up to the men’s
the better vision caused by
less distracted by what came
great impact on the cognitive
scores,” he says.
playing action video games,
before and by events in their
skills of older adults, but she
or is better vision a skill that
immediate surroundings.
says that we don’t know yet
investigated a different area
whether the same is true.
of spatial cognition called “the
gamers bring to the table?
They are able to detect,
At the same time, she
+ they found that the women
Pratt also seperately
Perhaps, Bavelier wondered,
for example, new information
gamers already have sharp
coming at them faster. As a
people that don’t play action
is essentially how much of
vision, and are thus good at
result, they are more efficient.
games, their reaction time [on
the visual field a person can
action games and vision tests.
And Bavelier also says that
multi-tasking tests] increased
perceive at any given moment.
gamers can switch from task
by 200 milliseconds, which is
(Or as Pratt describes it in his
recruited non-gamers and
to task much quicker than
something like 30 percent,”
research, “How wide can you
trained them for a few weeks
non-gamers, making them
Bavelier says. “But in gamers,
cast your net of attention?”)
to play action video games.
much better multitaskers.
it increased only by 10.”
Body Moving Games
Closing The Gender Gap
To test this out, Bavelier
“We see that typically in
“At the end of their training,” Bavelier says, “they’re told,
useful field of view,” which
Typically, there exist baseline differences between men and women on this test,
go back home, and no more
Gaming may improve
gaming. They’re not allowed
children’s cognitive skills, but
Pratt, has studied the dif-
significantly better. But Pratt
to play any games.”
it’s not without drawbacks:
ferences between men and
found that training on action
There’s a lot of evidence
women in their ability to men-
video games helped women
the lab every few months to
showing correlation between
tally manipulate 3D objects.
to significantly improve on
have their vision re-checked.
gaming and childhood obesity.
This skill is referred to as
this test of visual attention.
New devices — like Nintendo
spatial cognition, and it’s an
Pratt says playing these video
Wii, PlayStation Move or
essential mental skill for math
games changes your ability
Kinect for Xbox 360 — might
and engineering. According to
to learn, to find and integrate
vision remained improved,
help game lovers get off the
Pratt, women test significantly
new information.
even without further practice
couch, but do games used
worse on tests of spatial
on action video games. “We
with these systems show the
cognition.
looked at the effect of playing
same potential to improve a
action games on this visual
child’s aptitude for tests and
women who had had little
their environments and then
skill of contrast sensitivity,
other challenges?
gaming experience were
use them to their advantage,”
trained on action video
Pratt says. “ These same
Then they came back into
Laser Focus Bavelier found that their
and we’ve seen effects that
Not really, says Daphne
Brain researcher Jay
Pratt found that when
with men usually performing
“Video-gamers are keen enough to pick up very subtle, statistical irregularities in
can last up to almost two
Bavelier, a brain/cognitive
games, the gender difference
irregularities in environments
whole years.”
sciences researcher at the
nearly disappeared.
are the things that help us
72% of American households play computer and/or video games. 31
FOCUS & ATTENTION
spatial thinking
VISUAL REACTION TIME
enhanced coordination
33
How the M.I.T. Blackjack Team HACKED Las Vegas: I try to control my breath
my anxiety is at an all time
as I stroll through the Logan
high as I reach the security
International Airport. Terminal
checkpoint. I want to turn and
C is buzzing and chaotic, an
run, but the security guard is
over-air-conditioned hive of
staring at me, and I have no
college students escaping
choice: I show him my ticket.
Boston for a long weekend.
America West, flight 69, from
I am dressed like everyone
Boston to Vegas. It’s the
else: baggy jeans, baseball
Friday night Express.
hat, scuffed sneakers. But
He gestures with his
in my mind, I have as much
head, and I drop my backpack
chance of blending in as a
onto the conveyor belt. I know
radioactive circus clown.
the chips will show up on the
There’s more than enough
X-ray machine, but even if
money hidden under my
the guard makes me open the
clothes to buy a two-bedroom
backpack, he won’t realize
condo. To top it all off, there’s
how much money the yellow
about $100,000 worth of yellow
hunks of plastic represent.
plastic casino chips jammed
The $100 bills are another
into the backpack slung over
matter. This is an airport; they
my right shoulder. By now,
can drag me to a windowless
in the DEA, FBI, and IRS. It
stereotypical college student.
avoided being thrown into a
turned the game of blackjack
will be up to me to prove that
His features are ethnic, but
Bahamian jail. He was audited
into an arbitrage opportunity.
I’m not a drug dealer. But,
beyond that, indeterminate.
by the IRS, tailed by private
Their system was so insanely
to the customs agents, $100
He could be Asian, Latino,
investigators, and had his
successful, it took nearly
bills smell like cocaine. In
even Italian or Russian. He is
picture faxed around.
two years before the casinos
reality, I’m a writer, with six
a carbon copy of thousands
pulpy thrillers under my belt,
of other kids who call Boston
amassed a small fortune,
engaging in a cat-and-mouse
but today I’m on the scent of
home. “There’s got to be
which he keeps in neat stacks
war with the well-trained MIT.
a real life story even more
an easier way to carry your
of Benjamins in a closet by his
To the casinos, there’s no
high-octane than any of my
stake,” I finally say, adjusting
bed. It’s rumored he’s made
difference between legal card
fictional jaunts. I’m going to
the bricks of $100 bills that are
somewhere between a million
counters like Lewis, who use
ferry money for Kevin Lewis,
sliding down my legs.
and $5 million.
their brains to beat the game,
one of the best card counters
“Sure,” Lewis responds.
Along the way, he
For six years in the 1990s,
began to catch on ultimately
and the brash, increasingly
alive. He’s taking me back to
“We went through a gadget
Lewis was a principal member
high tech cheaters who steal
his glory days when he ran a
phase. You know, James
of the MIT Blackjack Team,
tens of millions of dollars
card team that hit Vegas for
Bond kind of stuff. But hollow
an infamous clique of hyper
from the resorts every year.
a few millions.
crutches are a lot harder
geniuses and anarchistic whiz
In response, the casinos have
to explain to the FBI than
kids who devised a method
developed a sophisticated
Velcro.”He isn’t joking.
of card counting that took
means of identifying, tracking,
the gaming world completely
and eliminating their enemies:
by surprise. Funded, in part,
i.e., anyone who doesn’t
by shadowy investors and
consistently lose.
The guard doesn’t seem to be bothered by the bulges under my clothes. He waves me through the metal detector, and I stumble toward gate. My
WHO IS LEWIS? The truth is, Kevin Lewis
heart rate has almost returned
isn’t actually his real name.
trained in mock casinos
to normal when I spot Lewis
This amiable kid lived a double
set up in classrooms, dingy
standing near the back of the
life for more than four years.
apartments, and underground
line of college kids waiting
In Boston, he was a straight-A
warehouses across Boston,
after my junior year,” Lewis
to board flight 69. He doesn’t
engineering major at MIT. In
Lewis + his gang used their
recalls. “I had these two
look up, waiting until I am right
Las Vegas, he was something
smarts to give themselves an
friends who were always off
next to him to show me the
more akin to a rock star. He
incredible advantage at the
disappearing long weekends.
edges of a mischievous grin.
Both had dropped out of MIT,
partied with Michael Jordan
only truly beatable game in
“Pretty intense,” he says.
+ Howard Stern. He dated
the pit. Picture this: a baby
I nod. His voice is full
a cheerleader from the L.A.
faced card counting team
of bravado, a stark contrast
Rams and got drunk with
armed with extremely
to his appearance. Dressed in
Playboy centerfolds. He was
impressive math skills.
a gray sweatshirt and khaki
chased off a riverboat in
This here was a
shorts, Lewis looks like the
Louisiana and narrowly
novelty that
THE TEAM “It started the summer
and neither one seemed to be interested in getting a job. And yet they always seemed to have tons of money.
35
FEATURE: SUPERWOMEN
Women who can see more color than you and me. 59
55
IT REWIRES YOUR BRAIN? THINK AGAIN. In the trivial sense, everything rewires your brain; in a more meaningful sense, nothing does.
51
THE BRAIN DOES WHAT?! Taking a placebo doesn’t just make you think you feel better, it produces a chemical response!
49
65
LIVING THE GAME. Fans in love, players at work. Here’s why players play the game but the fans are the ones who really live it.
69
MUST BE JOKING. Some people are just so unskilled they don’t realize it. Which means if you think you’re funny, it might mean you’re really not.
SUPERWOMEN By Hue Colls
“Nah-na-na-nah-na! I can see more colors than you!” I can just hear all those
super color vision you need
scrunchy-clad-pony-tailed
to have two X chromosomes.
girls taunting me on the school
So, if you’ve ever been in a
playground, if only they had
hopeless debate with a man
known about tetrachromacy in
who easily pairs two colors as
females back then...
exactly the same, and to you
It has been long accepted
they’re clearly not the same at
that human color vision is
all, he may not be colorblind–
based on having three cone
as you may infer during this
receptors (trichromat) red,
type of situation, but rather you
green and blue, but since the
see the colors differently.
early 90’s researches have
Men, don’t fear, for
been searching for people
we may be able to still call
who have four (tetrachromat).
ourselves tetrachromats, even
These people demonstrate a
if we can’t say we have super
heightened color sense + the
color vision. As it turns out hu-
ability to see “rare subtleties of
mans are better described as
color.” Unfortunately, for half
‘blocked tertrachromats’ rather
of the population, it seems that
than trichromats, according to
in order to lay claim to such
one researcher’s paper.
59
A tetrachromat is a woman who can see four distinct ranges of color, instead of the three that most of us live with.
The Genetics “In an odd twist of fate, the same genetic glitch that
study suggests that as many as
memory. While not completely
rare subtleties of colour. Look-
50% of women and 8% of men
conclusive, this initial study
ing at a rainbow, she can see
may have four photopigments.”
has so far provided our best
10 distinct colours. Most of us
candidates for natural human
only see five. She was the first
tetrachromats.”
to be discovered as having this
creates color-blind males may create females with betterthan-usual color vision.” ‘A Life More Colorful’ By Cynthia “In humans, two cone cell
COLORBLINDNESS TEST “Dr. Gabrielle Jordan of Cambridge University tested the color perception of 14
ability, in 1993, and a study in How Many DO You See? The accepted number of
2004 found that two out of 80 subjects were tetrachromats.
pigment genes are located on
women who each had at least
hues an average human can
But even if we find our tetra-
the sex X chromosome, the
one son with the right kind
differentiate between is one
chromats, they may not all be
classical type 2 opsin genes
of color-blindness. She set
million. Based on that math, a
created equal. If the modified
OPN1MW and OPN1MW2. It
up a test where the subjects
functioning tetrachromats with
color receptor is sensitive to
has been suggested that as
had to manipulate and blend
‘super color vision’ could see
wavelengths very close to a
women have two different X
two wavelengths of colored
100 million colors.
normal receptor, then the tet-
chromosomes in their cells,
light to produce any hue they
some of them could actually
liked. They then had to match
worker, and the first known
slightly better color-vision. The
be carrying some variant cone
their own results a second
human “tetrachromat” - sees
further apart the wavelength
cell pigments, which means
time. With normal color vision,
possibly being born as full
several different combina-
tetrachromats and having
tions would match any given
four different simultaneously
hue, but with a tetrachromat
functioning kinds of cone cells,
the possible combinations to
each type with a specific
produce a visible match would
pattern of responsiveness
be much reduced.
to different wave lengths of
Dr. Jordan reported that
light in the range of the visible
two of the 14 women showed
spectrum. One particular study
exactly the results she would
suggested that 2–3% of the
have expected from a woman
world’s women might have the
with tetrachromacy. At least
kind of fourth cone that lies
one of the two women reports
between the standard red and
having a different sense of
green cones which, in theory,
color from the people around
give significant increase in
her, with both better color
color differentiation. Another
matching and better color
Mrs M. - an English social
rachromat would merely have
The Ishihara color test is a simple + accurate method for discovering various kinds and degrees of congenital color blindness. It was named after it’s designer, Dr. Shinobu Ishihara (1879-1963), a professor at the University of Tokyo, who first published his tests in 1917.
61
THERE HAVE BEEN NO KNOWN CASES OF TETRACHROMACY IN MALES DOCUMENTED THUS FAR.
Normal color vision should read the number 42. Red-green deficiencies should read the number 3. Those with total color blindness should not be able to read any numeral.
Normal color vision should read the number 5. Red-green deficiencies should read the number 6. Those with total color blindness should not be able to read any numeral.
Normal color vision should read the number 8. Red-green deficiencies should read the number 2. Those with total color blindness should not be able to read any numeral.
Both normal and all color vision deficiencies should read the number 12.
Back Cover
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